• Had the highest weighted clearance rate (49.8 per cent) of those same police services.

Statistics Canada introduced the Crime Severity Index in 2009 as a measure of severity of crime committed in Canada.

Crime are assigned “seriousness weights,” which are determined by the number of people convicted of the crime who spend time in jail, and how much jail time those individuals serve.

The Crime Severity Index is calculated by the number of incidents for each offence and then multiplied by the weight of that offence.

Nationally, Halton ranked 298 out of a total of 305 police services in terms of its overall Crime Severity Index.

Only seven communities in Canada with populations greater than 10,000 had lower scores.

“There are a few really small towns that have a slightly smaller Crime Severity Index than us, but nothing comparable to what we have continued to achieve over the years,” said Halton Police Chief Stephen Tanner.

“The other thing I’m particularly proud of this year is that we have the highest clearance rate, when it’s weighted by the Crime Severity Index, of all of our competitors. That means we have less crime, but we are also doing a significant job of clearing those crimes when they do happen.”

Tanner called the glowing Statistics Canada report a testament to not only the hardworking uniformed and civilian members of Halton police, but also to the region and the residents of Halton.

“Community involvement is huge here,” he said.

“We have citizens groups, we have organizations, we have partner agencies we work closely with, there’s ADAPT (Alcohol, Drug and Gambling Assessment, Prevention and Treatment Services), community mental health groups, hospitals, LHINs, school boards. They all have a role to play.”

The report gave Regina the highest Crime Severity Index in the country followed by Saskatoon.